Sorting device



July 11, 1939.

W. S. -BOWSER SORTING DEVICE 1 Filed NOV. 17, 1957 [manier RatentedlulyI1,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEv comms..

'I'hls invention relates to a sorting means, and particularly to adevice for facilitating the sorting of tickets, coupons and the like.

It is often desirable to sort tickets bearing serial numbers, letters,or a combination thereof, such as telephone tickets, bond coupons, etc.,for. identication purposes, into their proper numericalor alphabeticalorder or sequence. It is rather diiilcult and tedious to manuallysegregate such tickets without the aid of some mechanical device.Various devices or mechanisms have been suggested and used to facilitatesuch sorting, but they usually required excessive handling of thetickets and were not very efficient or advantageous in their use. .e

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved device forsorting tickets and the like which will greatly facilitate the sortingof such tickets, and reduce to a minimum the manual handling thereof.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a device thatwill increase the rate at which such tickets can be sorted, and which issimple in its operation and construction.

Various other objects and advantages of my invention will more fullyappear during the course of the following specification, and will beparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing I have show n, for the purpose ofillustration, one embodiment which my invention may assume in practice.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved ticket sorting device of myinvention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the same;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through a portion of thedevice; v

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view through one of the ticket-receivingcompartments; and

Figure 5 is a bottom view of one of the compartments of the device.

According to the invention, as shown in the drawing, there is provided alongitudinallyA extending main body portion 2, preferably made fromsheet metallic material but which may be made from any other suitablematerial, having vertical parallel side-walls terminating in upperlongitudinally extending guide ange portions 3 and supported by legs Iof any desirable length. At one end of this body portion there isprovided a magazine compartment 5 of slightly larger dimensions than thetickets to be sorted in which the unsorted tickets are adapted to beplaced, preferably through an opening in the side-wall thereof which isnormally closed by a springhinged door 6. This magazine compartment hasvertical parallel end-walls, having straight lower portions whichterminate in curved upper portions 1, and a top portion 8 with a slot oropening 9 under the inner edge thereof. There is provided within themagazine compartment 5 I4. Each of these compartments I3 is providedwith a cover or top portion I5 which has a slightly turned-up edge orlip I5 `at its inner side which provides a slot or opening I'I betweenthat edge of the cover and the wall I4 through which the tickets are tobe inserted as they are sorted. Also,

each compartment has an opening I 8 in the sidewall thereof extendingsubstantially the depth of the compartment to facilitate themanipulation of the sorted tickets therefrom through an opening in thebottom thereof having a door I9 thereon which is normally maintainedclosed by the action of a spring-hinge 20.

In operation, the platform I 0 in the magazine compartment 5 is manuallyforced to the bottom of the magazine against the action of the springsI2 and a stack of unsorted tickets placed thereon. The platform is thenreleased and the springs force the platform together with the ticketsupward, bringing the topmost `tickets into contact with the curved upperportion 'I of the outer endwall of the magazine, urging the edge of thetop ticket out through the slot 9. The' number or other identifying markor marks on the ticket is noted by the operator and the ticket isremoved from the magazine and moved forward longitudinally of the deviceby a finger movement of the operator over the tops or covers of thecompartments I3 between the extending guide portions 3 to a positionopposite the slot I1 in the corresponding compartment in which it is tobe deposited. The ticket is then slipped'into the slot in thecompartment by a backward motion of the nger, and the movementsrepeatedfor each ticket to be classified.

It will be understood that the number'of compartments employed isgoverned by the classication desired. For sorting tickets numerically,it appears that a device having ten ticket-receiving compartments wouldbe most satisfactory. A unit of twenty-six compartments would be used,of course, for alphabetically classifying and sorting tickets.

While I have in this application specically shown and described anembodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this embodimentis merely for the purpose of illustration and description and thatvarious other forms may be devised within the scope of the invention asdeiined in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A device for sorting tickets and the like comprising a longitudinallyextending box-like body member, a plurality of compartments successivelyarrangedin said body member throughout substantially the length thereof,one of the endmost of said compartments being adapted for use as amagazine compartment and the remaining compartments adapted to receivethe tickets as they are removed therefrom and sorted, each of saidcompartments having an opening in the top thereof for inserting thetickets therethrough, means arranged in` said magazine compartment forurging the topmost tickets therefrom through the opening therein andmeans arranged along the top of said body member and extending at leastfrom said magazine compartment along said ticket receivingcompartmentsthroughout substantially the length of said body member for guiding thetickets in their movement thereover as they are being sorted.

2. A device for sorting tickets and the like comprising a longitudinallyextending box-like body member, a plurality of spaced-apart parallelmembers arranged in said body member so as to provide a series ofaligned compartments therein, each of said parallel members having anoutwardly. bent portion adapted to form a top for the next succeedingcompartment and extending to a point adjacent the next parallel memberin line so as to provide an opening therebetween in the top of each ofthe compartments for inserting the tickets therethrough, one of theendmost of said compartments being adapted for use as avmagazinecompartment to hold a quantity of tickets to be sorted and the remainingcompartments adapted to receive the tickets as they are removed from themagazine compartment and sorted, said parallel members forming saidmagazine compartment having parallel upper curved portions, meansassociated with said magazine compartment for forcing the ticketstherein upwardly against the curved portion of the outer parallel memberwhich, in turn, is adapted to force successively the topmost ticket inthe magazine out through the opening therein, and means arranged in thebottom of said ticket receiving compartments for removing the sortedtickets therefrom.

3. A device for sorting tickets and the like comprising a longitudinallyextending box-like body member, a plurality of compartments successivelyarranged in side-by-side relation in said body member throughoutsubstantially the length thereof, at least one of said compartmentsadapted for use as a magazine compartment and the remaining compartmentsadapted to receive the tickets as they are removed from the magazinecompartment and sorted, each of said compartments having an opening inthe top side for inserting the tickets therethrough, an upwardlyextending flanged guide portion arranged along the top of said bodymember at each side thereyof,lsaid flanged portions adapted to guide thetickets as they are moved along the top of the body member to be sorted,and means for urging the tickets successively through the opening insaid magazine compartment at the top of said body member for sorting thesame.

WAYLAND S. BOWSER.

